Let the Chinese handmade paper of 2000 continue to live in various ways
——Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo's quest for handmade paper
There is a Chinese handmade paper workshop in an old Beijing courtyard at No. 27, Neiwubu Street, Dongcheng District. If you walk in and visit, you will first be attracted by the colorful patterns on the left side of the wall. .
Each paper pattern smaller than A4 paper size is carefully mounted with a glass frame, and the type of paper is marked below with text: mulberry paper, Dongba paper, porcelain blue paper, bamboo paper...it has become A small Chinese handmade paper exhibition hall.
Since 2018, the two generations born in the 1980s, Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo, have visited handicraft paper workshops in 16 regions in China, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan. There are dozens of large and small.
From the beginning, the papermaking masters helped to introduce and contact one by one, and now they have their own stable contacts and resources. They only collect as much as possible the existing traditional handmade paper varieties in China.
In addition to the daily operation of the work room, Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo also established a public account, named "I am Mr. Chu".
In addition to the regular offline event registration notice issued by the official account, there will also be unpopular knowledge of popular science and handmade paper.
Compared to making a living, the two felt that how to let more people know about handmade paper and the work they were doing was what they cared more about.
"Every time we find a kind of paper, it is an incentive for us. This is the biggest motivation for us to keep going forward." Yang Bo said.
"We have the most comprehensive handmade paper currently available on the market."
In this small studio hidden in the hutongs of old Beijing, which is dozens of square meters, it has collected nearly 400 kinds of traditional Chinese handmade papers collected in the past few years.
In addition to the paper patterns hung on the wall at the entrance of the studio, there are many that have not been displayed.
When you walk to the innermost part of the studio, you can see a row of wooden shelves as high as one person occupying a whole wall, filled with Dangdang handmade paper.
These papers are different from everyday paper products in terms of feel, color and texture.
"We have the most comprehensive handmade paper currently available on the market," Cui Zhenshuo said.
In order to make the collected Chinese handmade paper more systematic, more scaled, and better preserved and recorded, Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo set out to make the "Chinese Handmade Paper Sample Book".
Now, the first book has been completed, which contains thirty paper patterns, and their plan is to make ten volumes.
The Chinese character "楮" (chǔ) is another name for paper in ancient times. Han Yu once wrote in "Mao Ying Biography": "Ying and Jiang Ren Chen Xuan, Hong Nong Tao Hong and Mr. Huiji Chu are friendly and deduced from each other. It must be together." He personified pen, ink, inkstone, and paper, and called the paper "Mr. Chu". Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo cited this allusion to name their studio.
In the afternoon, guests from the studio who came to visit and buy paper from time to time were attracted by a group of handmade paper with high saturation colors on the wall behind the tea table, which was collected from Tibet.
Yang Bo said: "This is Tibetan paper, using pure natural mineral dyes. It is used to copy scriptures. It has excellent stability and a thick and thick hand. Traditional Tibetan paper can be'not bad for a thousand years'." And a piece of handmade paper inlaid with intact flowers and leaves hanging on the window reveals a sense of tranquility. The paper appears translucent in the afternoon sun, reflecting the contours of flowers and plants-this is from The paper made of paper made of paper from the paper workshop in Guizhou.
"It uses natural paper mulberry bark and seasonal flowers. It is made by pouring: a layer of bark pulp is dried, then a layer of flowers and leaves are laid, and then a layer of bark pulp is poured when it is half dry." Cui Zhenshuo said.
There were also guests who came to see the porcelain blue paper, and Cui Zhenshuo took it out of the shelf and showed it.
The color of porcelain blue paper is different from ordinary rice paper. Its whole body is uniformly dark blue, and the surface of the paper presents a purple-red light in the sun, which reveals a solemnity just by looking at it.
There are hundreds of kinds of handmade paper, and the two of them are like a few treasures, and they can talk about them with just a few.
However, speaking of the experience of two people working together to set up a studio, Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo admitted that they were originally doing work that "has nothing to do with handmade paper", and it was not until 2018 that they really became attached to paper.
The two entered a papermaking company in Beijing through social recruitment. Yang Bo was in charge of the booth and project activities, and Cui Zhenshuo was in charge of warehousing and logistics.
Speaking of the experience of liking handmade paper, we must also start with their "fighting against counterfeiting".
By chance, a person known as the "Paper Master" in the shop borrowed the warehouse of the paper-making company they were working in to make a 100-meter-long handmade paper. Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo were sent by the leaders to supervise the scene.
"We were curious about the name of this master of papermaking. We really wanted to see how hand-made paper is going. As a result, after contacting and talking about it, we found that the'master' was full of loopholes, but the workers hired to make paper Come to be skilled.” So, when the "master" was away, they went to the workers to chat, and gradually learned the truth: the so-called masters do not make paper, and paper is made by workers. These so-called workers are talented. Is the real "Paper Master".
"I think there are such'masters' in all walks of life, but the more they are, the more people are needed to stand up and speak for the truth, for the real craftsmen, and for those who are still in remote areas. "Cui Zhenshuo said.
The charm of hand-made paper is incomparable to machine papermaking. The masters' kung fu is made by practice. The spiritual value lies in the super stability and patience that grows in the repetitive work all the year round.
Seeing the craftsmen from the Dabie mountainous area in Anhui using their skillful skills to make handmade paper, the two young people gradually ignited a keen interest in handmade paper. They all thought of it together: "We must go to the hometown of these paper masters to take a look. Look, what exactly is the original ecological factory for papermaking."
At the end of 2018, towards the end of the project, Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo left the contact information of these papermakers. After the beginning of the spring, the two set off for the first stop-Maojianshan Township, Anqing City, Anhui Province, and set foot on the search for the craftsman. The road to the paper workshop.
The "stubbornness" and "isolation" of the old papermaker
In Maojianshan Township, there is a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage mulberry paper making skills, named Wang Bolin.
It was in Wang Bolin's paper workshop where Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo saw the complete hand-made papermaking process for the first time. They spent more than 20 days in Maojianshan Township.
The mulberry paper made by Wang Bolin is the special paper for the cultural preservation and overhaul of the Forbidden City, and a long-term cooperation has also been established.
Wang Bolin, who possesses special skills, is a simple, honest and unspeakable middle-aged man. The papermaking craftsmanship is passed down from his ancestors, and he is already the fifth generation. After making samples, he sent the paper to Beijing as a candidate for the National Paper Quality Supervision and Inspection Center. The test result is: the folding resistance is more than 9000 times.
The experts finally reached a consensus that the 100% pure mulberry paper handcrafted by Wang Bailin was comparable to the Goryeo paper produced during the Qianlong period.
In addition to this national master, Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo also mentioned another old craftsman Chu Chengyan who impressed them.
"Old Chu's concentration on paper is something we two have never seen before." Cui Zhenshuo said. In him, the two really felt the spirit of a craftsman.
"Master Chu hasn't studied much. He has studied papermaking in a family workshop since he was a child, and he hasn't touched too much outside the world. Traditional handmade paper workshops are mostly family workshops. Everyone has a clear division of labor and works together. No one sits and enjoys it. Young men do the hard work of beating pulp, and the elders in the family are responsible for copying processes that require experience." Cui Zhenshuo said that most of China's paper mills follow such survival rules.
Master Chu is a "not good at talking" and is very bad at speech. It is easy to be unclear when discussing the application matters with relevant departments. Sometimes even Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo have to rely on the translation software in the mobile phone to talk to him.
There are few young people in the family, which also troubles the old craftsmen. Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo once suggested that Master Chu register a company to start business-to-business business, and it is much more convenient to sign large purchase contracts.
But Master Chu didn't understand these things at all. Hearing that the registered company had to pay a deposit was even more contradictory, so he replied to Cui Zhenshuo "Wait for her daughter to go home after the holiday."
Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo think this is a very realistic problem. The too traditional way of life and production prevents the old craftsmen from directly connecting with the market, which restricts the development of the paper workshop.
This is also one of the reasons why they wanted to do "handmade paper trading", to build a bridge between craftsmen and customers, so that they would purchase paper from a paper mill and then resell it to those in need.
In addition to "cannot speak", Master Chu still has a little bit of "stubbornness", which is mainly reflected in the materials used.
His special skill is to make pure red sandalwood paper. This kind of rice paper needs the bark of the red sandalwood tree to make.
Qingtan trees are a specialty of Jingxian County in Anhui Province. They are not easy to survive when transplanted to other places. The growth rate of wild sandalwood trees is limited. After harvesting, there is also a restriction of "no re-harvesting within three years", which is so good. The price of raw materials of Pedospermum bark is very expensive.
Master Chu’s “stubbornness” is reflected in the fact that he must use the best raw materials, and he is determined not to compromise.
"In fact, the bark prices in different locations are different, and there are price differences. In many cases, cheaper materials can be used, but he is pursuing the ultimate, and it is as good as he can make." Such stubbornness is a piece of paper itself. Good thing, but it is not so flexible for the market and survival.
"You must have the best things. If you haven't seen the best, you don't know where the standards are." Cui Zhenshuo expressed his opinion in this way.
Before leaving Maojian Township, Master Chu introduced Yi Xiaohui, a librarian of the National Library of China, to Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo.
As soon as they returned to Beijing, the two contacted him. Yi Xiaohui, who was impressed by the enthusiasm and perseverance of the two young people, gave them a form with the contact information of the more characteristic handmade paper workshops in China.
"This is the'battle map' we later went to the handmade paper workshops of other provinces across the country, which helped us a lot." Yang Bo said.
"When you can't stick to it, stick to it again"
In the imagination of Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo, the daily life of Zhifang is a scene of idyllic living by the mountains and rivers, but the reality is not like this.
Since most of the places where the paper workshops are located are traditional villages, the first thing after going there is not to visit and exchange, but to go to the countryside and drink with the hospitable locals in order to get acquainted with the craftsmen.
In addition, after the two embarked on the journey, they discovered that in many areas, the traffic is inconvenient and the road conditions are not good.
This is how Yang Yujie's workshop is.
Master Yang was met by Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo two years ago when they went to Jingxian County to participate in the China Handmade Paper History Conference. They also visited his hand-made paper workshop and watched the craftsmanship of the "excellent" porcelain blue paper on the spot.
Because there is no fixed income, in order to save expenses and be close to the water source, Yang Yujie set up his workshop in a relatively remote mountain in Dingjiaqiao Town, Jing County, and the site is large enough.
"Yang Yujie's friend came to pick us up. It was night and the temperature was extremely low. When we arrived at the workshop, we found that there were mountains on three sides, and only one side was a small road in the county town. That location was still a vent. We were so cold that we were so big. He is alone." Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo still remembered the cold that day.
Yang Yujie is a native of Jingxian County. He is less than 50 years old this year. His grandfather used to make handmade paper.
He used to be a Chinese medicine doctor, because his lover is also in the handmade paper industry, he has also been engaged in rice paper making since he was 30 years old.
By chance, he came into contact with the porcelain blue paper that was about to be lost.
In a passion, he is determined to use his learning and experience to reproduce the porcelain blue paper.
Successfully engraving porcelain blue paper is not that simple. From 2010 to the end of 2016, he has experienced 6 years of spring and autumn.
Today's paper workshop still uses his homemade tools, as well as the herbs he uses to make pigments.
Yang Yujie understands the medicinal properties of many Chinese herbal medicines. After picking some herbs from the mountains, Yang Yujie often boils them into decoctions and tries to fish, drag, apply and pour them in various methods.
It takes about 20 days to make a batch of porcelain blue paper. The procedure is very complicated. The paper needs to be dipped in natural vegetable dyes and then taken out to dry. Repeat more than 20 times.
After the experiment was successful, Yang Yujie took the paper to the National Library for testing, and the similarity reached 99%, successfully re-engraving the traditional craftsmanship of porcelain blue paper.
Today, Yang Yujie still hangs a certificate issued by the State Patent Office on the wall of Yang Yujie's paper workshop.
In the eyes of Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo, Yang Yujie is really a simple person.
"Last year, the National Library invited Mr. Yang Yujie to give lectures, but after he went there, he used word for the whole process because he didn't know how to use PPT. I waited at the gate of the activity for him to finish his lecture. He got on my car and said, ' Sitting underneath are all professors and doctors, I'm so nervous! I have never seen so many intellectuals!'"
Cui Zhenshuo mentioned that during the Chinese New Year in 2020, Yang Yujie once sent a message to himself saying: "It is too difficult to stick to it." Cui Zhenshuo encouraged him to stick to it and everything will be fine.
Old craftsmen are generally simple, do not understand business methods and communication skills, do not have a way to spend money, and do not have a stable customer base and order channels. This is also a problem encountered by many old papermakers.
He and Yang Bo have been helping to introduce buyers to Yang Yujie.
Later, an Englishman fell in love with Yang Yujie's porcelain blue paper in his studio and bought 30 pieces on the spot.
After that, the National Library purchased a lot of porcelain blue paper restored by Yang Yujie, his financial situation eased, the National Art Museum of China also signed a fixed order with him, as well as many repeat customers who came here. This was the most difficult stage. .
Handmade paper should have more daily application space
In the current domestic paper market, the market size of handmade paper is less than one percent, and it is only circulated in a small area.
If Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo want to push handmade paper to a larger circle, they must invest more time and energy.
The studio only opened this year and is now gradually on track. They intend to use it as a hub between paper mills and buyers, as well as a place to promote and exchange Chinese handmade paper culture, art galleries, artists and collectors hobbies. All of them are their regular visitors.
Getting to know these like-minded friends who love Chinese traditional culture is also a pleasant surprise for the two of them.
Another unexpected harvest came from the other side of the Strait. In order to expand the channels for paper collection, Yang Bo found out that there are also handmade paper workshops in the Puli area of Nantou County, Taiwan when looking through the information, so he found the contact of Mr. Huang, the person in charge of a local handmade paper memorial hall Way.
Hearing that studios from the mainland are interested in handmade paper, Mr. Huang enthusiastically sent a large number of sample papers, a total of 71 types.
"We have also agreed that after the epidemic, we must visit Taiwan in person and communicate face to face." Yang Bo said.
There are operating pressures, but they are still self-sufficient.
For the two locals, Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo, the biggest difficulty lies not in survival, but in the ability to absorb more knowledge and experience in the professional field. They have also been in a state of learning and absorbing new handmade paper knowledge.
If you want more people to understand handmade paper, maybe you can think of ways to make handmade paper into people's lives.
Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo tried many ways. Some samples were placed in the studio, including handmade paper for New Year pictures, prints, and even bookmarks and decorations.
In addition to these, there are some photographers who specialize in picking paper for setting and lighting; there are also homestay owners who come to buy floral paper and Tibetan paper. Simply adding a frame is a natural artistic decoration.
Cui Zhenshuo said that these are the unexpected uses of handmade paper before.
Compared to self-media, offline activities are what they are good at.
Through the introduction of friends, since April this year, Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo have held or participated in various seminars and salons in various museums and public spaces almost every weekend.
This method may not seem so efficient, but it is the most vertical way of promotion.
They thought about opening an online store and doing live broadcasts, but the characteristic of handmade paper is that you will never really understand its texture and color without seeing the real thing, so they have to give up temporarily.
Every time the "I am Mr. Chu" studio holds an offline event, Cui Zhenshuo and Yang Bo will put a hundred paper box on the stage, which contains 100 sample cards of all the traditional handmade paper they have collected so far.
The audience was greatly touched every time they listened, helping them figure out how to promote, how to make a name for themselves, and so on.
However, they also understand that hand-made paper is also a personalized consumption, niche is inevitable.
"A small crowd is equal to enjoyment", Yang Bo can understand, they are willing to extend the time a little longer and do it a little longer.
Yang Bo said: "We don't know enough, but we try to spread what we know, and handmade paper can't rely on us alone."
They were relieved that during the visit to the handmade paper, they found that the blood of many local young people was returning. “We went to the Bomi area of Tibet and found that many young people born in the 90s had finished school and worked for several years. They all went back from the big cities to make handmade paper, which injected fresh business blood into the local old workshops."
Chinese paper culture was officially opened by Cai Hou paper, invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, Chinese folk wisdom came to pass by analogy, and it developed to make paper from the fibers of bark, bamboo, and even straw and wheat straw. Paper made from various raw materials such as grass has a history of two thousand years.
Before the Internet age, people read, learned, and wrote letters. Everyone was accustomed to the use of paper. Now, paper seems to fade out of people's daily sight.
But Yang Bo and Cui Zhenshuo are unwilling to use the somewhat bleak word "stick to" to describe the business they love.
"In different times and different regions, China's handmade paper has never stopped evolving. It has been passed down for so many years. In our generation, there are reasons for handmade paper to continue to live in various ways."
Text/Reporter Lei Ruotong